Maybe 70%? Genetics play a huge role. You will likely need a doctor if your family has a long history of cancer.
You're young, aren't you?
The percentage is significant, but nowhere near 95%.
I might be over-estimating the percentage. I might also be over-estimating how much we can affect diabetes, weight, fitness, addiction.
I can say that the chronic health problems of my peer-group often appear to be self-inflicted.
Of my dead acquantances there are maybe a few groups: (1) health problems caused by childhoods of poverty, (2) health problems that we haven't solved yet which the medical system helps little, (3) suicides, (4) crashes/accidents, and (5) health problems caused by smoking, drinking and drugs (e.g. HepC).
Also acquaintances with chronic conditions often don't follow medical advice anyway e.g. diabetic friends that abuse their bodies. Or people told to quit drinking or smoking that do not stop.
I'm not saying it is easy. I am saying I know plenty of acquantances that have made difficult choices to improve their lifestyle choices (presuming cause not correlation), and others that have not made positive changes.
Context: I'm in New Zealand, so healthcare is mostly free and of reasonable quality. We have lots of immigrants so I have some exposure to people from other (often adjacent) cultures.
https://bowelcancernz.org.nz/about-bowel-cancer/early-detect... says about prevention: While no cancer is completely preventable, a healthy diet and regular exercise can lower your risk of bowel cancer. Numerous studies have indicated that a diet too rich in red meat and processed foods can heighten the risk of bowel cancer. However I would guess the percentage amount you can lower your risk by is below 1%. Across all health outcomes, healthy food choices and a daily walk can have a large effect overall.
It seems to me a hell of a lot of our healthcare funding goes towards people that make no preventative effort towards health. I have friends and acquittances with chronic conditions due to alcohol (diabetes, excessive obesity, gout, Korsikov's, accidents), smoking (emphysema, cancers), severely damaged joints (impact sports, car accidents), drugs (hepC, OD, teeth, accidents and worse).
Personally I eat "risky" foods , occasionally I drink excessively, I heartily enjoy high risk sports and activities, and I definitely don't exercise enough. I am not trying to preach: my point is many close their eyes to known risks.
I certainly am not blaming your cancer on your lifestyle. I sincerely hope the best for remission.
> I didn't have insurance, $800k
I'm in New Zealand and our taxes pay for reasonable quality cancer care for all - probably not $800k worth often. The sticker price for the US insurance system is often grossly[1] overstated (for reasons). I've seen our healthcare system mostly work (and I've seen some failures too).
[1] e.g. Hospital billed $100K, insurance negotiated to about $20K. The actual doctor only got $2-3K. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37977337
> 95% of health is being proactive about your health: food, fitness, sleep, dentist, etcetera.
This is a statistic pulled out of nowhere.
>> But we're all going to have severe medical problems at some point.
>Which often are untreatable - and the doctoring is regularly prophylactic. Hip-replacements are an obvious outlier.
Again this is pulled out of nowhere. All types of joint replacement, stents and heart surgery are major procedures which are common and not prophylactic. Prostate cancer surgery has an 85% success rate in eradication where I live, and no, I didn't get it from bad lifestyle choices.
95% of health is being proactive about your health: food, fitness, sleep, dentist, etcetera.
I wonder how much doctoring is due to negligence of a healthy lifestyle, or perhaps chronic choices (addictive substances like alcohol, shift-work).
> But we're all going to have severe medical problems at some point.
Which often are untreatable - and the doctoring is regularly prophylactic. Hip-replacements are an obvious outlier.